A local man initially arrested Wednesday afternoon for failure to vacate from his apartment after reportedly not paying his rent was soon facing a felony drug charge after meth was allegedly found in his possession.
Walter Brown Stephenson, 64, was taken into custody shortly after 2:30 p.m. at Aristocrat Manor Apartments, 240 Central Ave., on warrants for misdemeanor counts of failure to vacate and failure to appear and was charged with a felony count of possession of a controlled substance, meth, punishable by up to six years in prison.
Stephenson, who lists no prior felony history, remained in custody Thursday in lieu of $3,500 bond and is set to appear today in Garland County District Court.
According to the probable cause affidavit, officers responded to Aristocrat Manor regarding someone trespassing and were told by the manager, Shelley Ochsner, that one of the tenants, identified as Stephenson, was issued an eviction notice for nonpayment of rent on Sept. 1 and had failed to vacate.
A computer check revealed Stephenson also had a warrant for failure to appear to he was taken into custody. During a search of his person, a "small, makeshift plastic wrap bag over a white crystal substance" was found in his pocket.
Stephenson told police he had nothing else on him and reportedly admitted the substance was meth, about "half a gram." He stated he bought it Tuesday night from "some guy" and did not elaborate further. The substance was found to weigh 0.7 gram.
Local on 09/27/2019